Prolonged standing at work such as factory, warehouse or restaurant kitchen can lead to health issues including poor blood circulation and swelling in the feet and legs, joint damage and heart problems. Many of you may have jobs that require continuous standing but only a few of them have access to a chair or stool like teaching or banking. Most jobs in industries have narrow work places where you cannot carry a chair and ultimately resort to standing.

Keith Gunura, 29-year old CEO and co-founder of noonee, used to work at UK packaging factory when he felt the agony of not finding a place to sit down comfortably. This experience led him to develop Chairless Chair – a wearable exoskeleton for the legs that can be locked into a supporting structure to sit down. If the chair is unlocked, you can walk normally or even run while wearing the structure.

He started working on this concept in 2009 when he was a student in the Bio-inspired Robotics Lab at the ETH Zurich research institute. The device is currently in prototype phase and actively being marketed.

The chairless chair is powered with a variable damper to support the user’s body weight. The user engages the damper once they get themselves in a suitable sitting position. The chair then locks the configuration and all the weight is concentrated towards the heel of their shoes. The structure is supported on thighs and waist through straps and belts. The device can run for 24 hours with a single 6V battery.

Noonee CTO and co-founder Bryan Anastisiades explains the benefits of chairless chair, “In addition to resting your leg muscles, it also provides optimal posture. It keeps your back straight and can reduce the occurrence of bad postures for both healthy workers and those recovering from muscle related injuries.”

The idea has become popular with people from diverse fields such as factories, film industry (photographers and camera men) medical, agricultural (harvesting and gardening), hiking, and a lot others.

The commercial model is said to be 2 kg in weight and will operate for eight hours on one charge of its 9-volt battery. There’s no word on an estimated price.

Check out the following video for more information on this magical chair.